It was widely assumed that Malzahn would hang onto recruiting coordinator/RB coach Curtis Luper and WR coach Trooper Taylor. Both men are very close to the recruits that make up Auburn's highly-touted recruiting class, currently ranked No. 11 by Rivals.

5-star recruit Reuben Foster has said on multiple occasions that his Auburn commitment is contingent on the future of Taylor. (via Mike Herndon, AL.com)

Yes, I was waiting on the head coach to be hired, but even more so I am waiting to see what happens with Coach Taylor because my relationship with him is different than a regular coach to player relationship.

Despite the sting that this recruiting class may take, this was the right move for Malzahn because of the desperate need for a culture change around the Auburn program.

via 247sports

One or two recruits do not make or break a program, and a culture shock is much more important at this point in time than a recruit that may or may not pan out to meet his star ranking from high school.

In reality, if all of the assistants that were on staff last year stayed on with Malzahn, what is really different about the Auburn program? There would have been an all-too-familiar feel around the Tigers locker room. In this case, familiarity would have bred the same complacency as fans saw in 2012.

As good as this staff was at recruiting, a major flaw it had was developing the talent it brought in. There have been three straight top-10 recruiting classes brought in under Chizik. At times in 2011 and 2012, the players looked more like they were from a team who was in its first year of playing football.

There were poor fundamentals and mental mistakes on the field each and every week.

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New coaches coming in will give the players the mindset of having to prove themselves for playing time rather than feeling like their job has already been won because they are so familiar with their position coach.

Malzahn is well on his way to filling out his new staff. There are reports that former Southern Mississippi head coach and former South Carolina defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson was in Auburn to interview for the defensive coordinator position on Wednesday.

The sooner a new staff can be assembled, the sooner it can get on the road to retaining or rebuilding this 2013 recruiting class.

It was a risky call to release the Auburn coaching staff, specifically the lead recruiters for many of the top recruits in the nation that have committed to Auburn.

As risky as it was, it needed to be done to show that Malzahn was not joking in his introductory press conference when he claimed "It was a new day" for Auburn football.